Sydney's School Stories

My students have been really struggling with adding and subtracting fractions with different denominators. I did a math talk with them and realized that many students lack a foundational understanding of what a fraction means and struggle with multiplication/division facts. I have been working with students in small groups and spent over 2 weeks teaching equivalent fractions, listing out multiples, etc. I was feeling defeated most of this week- I had tried lots of different teaching strategies but none seemed to be working. As a teacher its easy to feel like you've let the kids who just can't seem to get it down- I felt especially like this and tired because of back to school nights and just getting back into the 1st month of school routine. BUT THEN... On Friday- I reached out to our ITCL and admin and we talked about different strategies we could implement to support kids who lack a basic understanding of fractions. I decided to help each student create their own fraction b...

Back to school is always a crazy bee-sy time for teachers- from setting up your classroom, school site professional development/meetings, and lesson planning. The 2017-2018 school year marks my 2nd year teaching and it started off with a bang! I am working at a new school (same district) this year and have a portable as my classroom. I spent hours putting up tropical decor, math standards, and arranging the desks- I was all ready for the start of the year! However, on the first day disaster struck! Bees invaded my classroom and one of my new students was stung. Thankfully this student was not allergic but it was stressful for all. From the first - fourth days of school I moved my teacher things from my portable to the special education room to hold class. The special education teacher was kind enough to let my students and I take refuge in her space! I am so proud of my students for being adaptable. My room is now bee free!